The Sunday Woman is a crime

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Italian authors Carlo Fruttero

Carlo Fruttero

Carlo Fruttero is an Italian writer, journalist, translator and editor of anthologies. He is mostly known for his joint work with Franco Lucentini, especially as authors of crime novels...

 and Franco Lucentini

Franco Lucentini

Franco Lucentini was an Italian writer, journalist, translator and editor of anthologies. His novel The Sunday Woman, which was also made into a film, 1976, with Marcello Mastroianni and Jacqueline Bisset.- Biography :...

, first published in 1972. It was subsequently translated into English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 by William Weaver

William Weaver

William Fense Weaver is an English language translator of modern Italian literature.-Biography:William Weaver is perhaps best known for his translations of the work of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino, and has translated many other Italian authors over the course of a career spanning more than fifty...

 in 1973.

The novel is set in the city of Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, and deals with the investigation of commissioner Santamaria about the murder of an architect of dubious fame, Garrone. Among the protagonists are Anna Carla Dosio, a beautiful and rich woman, and her friend Massimo Campi, a rich homosexual, who, while playing an intellectual game, had the architect Garrone killed in a letter. Later in the novel, Campi's boyfriend, Lello, a municipal clerk who was investigating by himself on the murder, is also killed. In the end of the novel, suspicions against the two are raised when Santamaria discovers that Garrone had been killed for his blackmailing, related to a project for a new quarter of buildings, against an old woman.

The book is notable for its ironic portrait of Turin's bourgeoise. It is also considered one of the first examples of modern Italian crime novels.

Film

A movie with the same title, directed by Luigi Comencini

Luigi Comencini

Luigi Comencini was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the commedia all'italiana genre....

, was released in 1976, starring Marcello Mastroianni

Marcello Mastroianni

Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...

 as Santamaria, Jacqueline Bisset

Jacqueline Bisset

Jacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...

 as Anna Carla and Jean-Louis Trintignant

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Jean-Louis Trintignant is a French actor who has enjoyed an international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.-Career:...

as Massimo.